It's My Weakness
by zomgkateh
Summary: Victor Creed learns that his body doesn't like carbonadium.


His head was in her lap.

Laying there, dying in her lap. Bleeding through one, two, three, ten bullet holes. Three to the chest, four to the stomach, two to the shoulder and one on the edge of his neck. Carbonadium bullets, all of them. If they were anything else, he would've healed by now. He wouldn't be laying here unconscious, while Todd frantically tried to work his healing touch on the feral mutant and keep Lydia from flipping shit on her friend. She could possibly kill him if he didn't save him. She had it in her to do it, plus she knew her gun was loaded and only feet away in the drawer of her side-table. She could aim pretty well, so unless Todd freaking jumped out of her window, he'd get shot down without any effort. All because he couldn't help him. He would let the almighty Sabretooth fall, bleeding to death with his head in fragile, helpless little Lydia's lap.

How long had it been, an hour? An hour since they practically broke all traffic laws to get out of the red zone. It was all her fault too. Graydon abducted her, knowing that Victor would go looking for her. Graydon would use her to get to his father, and obviously he planned to kill him with the carbonadium bullets made for that handgun that he wielded. She had an inhibitor collar around her neck, one of Graydon's little inventions that hindered a mutant's abilities not to mention he'd added a little extra chemical so that he could ensure his control over them. When he took her, she felt like she was unconscious for awhile, in some kind of limbo until he threw her into a cell and locked her away inside. "You're gonna bring him right to me," he said to her, that malign grin across his harsh features as he stared at her through the bars. And that's exactly what happened.

It took a day of tracking, as Victor's nose was deceiving him. He couldn't pinpoint the trail properly, it had rained and washed away the scent he could detect in the middle of times square if he wanted to try. He was having such a problem tracking her, and he figured that it was his anger that clouded his better judgment. He was smart enough to know that he was walking into a trap, but he refused to stand down from the hunt. He was hunting his son, and tracking what was his. Simple as that. He hadn't asked Todd to come along, but considering he found out on his own that Lydia had been abducted and it was his prerogative to help his friend even if he was more of a support type than an offensive type. He must've figured that Victor, the offensive type, was going to be going after her too so the boy trailed behind him to fulfill that healer duty of his. Even if he didn't think he was going to be useful at all.

Victor found himself breaking and entering into a small warehouse near the entrance of the naval shipyard, Todd following behind after he parked his car somewhere safe. Just in case. Combing the expanse of the warehouse, it took awhile before they found Lydia. Out of her cell, tied to a chair and under a spotlight as if she were some beacon leading the boys to her. Victor treaded carefully, Graydon's scent poisoning his father's senses and he could smell a few insignificant lackeys dotted around the premises. He stayed to the shadows, Todd following his movements exactly as if he were taking lessons from a teacher. However, once he saw his friend the healer boy immediately shouted her name and start to run for her. Victor grabbed his shirt and yanked him back in the shadow, growling and snarling at him to stay put. He would go first. So he did, beginning to inch out of the cover of darkness.

Lydia didn't even know what was going on. The chemical being injected into her through the collar dulled her senses so much, she didn't even know where she was anymore let alone who was talking to her. She even mistook Graydon for Victor quite a few times, causing the disgruntled son to sneer and turn away. He hid himself under shadow when he put his live bait out into the open, putting Lydia in viewing distance as he held his loaded gun. Just waiting. He'd made the mistake of telling her what he was going to do to Victor when he found her, thinking that she was too drugged to remember. Well, he was only half-right. When Victor came out of the shadow, she could barely even see. Her head was spinning, colors were blending into each other, and moving objects seemed to blur and vibrate instead of move. However, her eyes tried to make the effort to focus on him and when she did she started to get antsy and scared. Her eyes widened into a state of distress, she sat straighter, and everything seemed to sharpen back up as if she'd sobered up. He kept getting closer and once he was defined and clear in her sight she screamed for him to stop and take cover.

There wasn't enough time. There wasn't enough time in between her scream that the first shot was fired. Shot one hit him in the shoulder. Victor roared and retreated for a moment, locking his jaw as the pain seared through him but it hadn't hit him yet. He thought he was going to heal, so he bared the pain and just trudged forward. He cut Lydia's ropes and then started looking for Graydon, not needing to go far. The angry male came out from his hiding spot and just laughed, firing another shot at his father. This one landed square in the stomach causing the feral to roar again and double over in agony. "Why aren't you healing, daddy?" he remarked, making Victor look to his wounds and there he saw blood. He saw blood trickling down from his shoulder, and when he removed his hand from his stomach he saw his shirt starting to get soaked in blood. He didn't understand. Lydia was screaming at Graydon to stop and for Victor to run, but everyone refused to move. Graydon pushed her to the side, firing another shot at Victor Creed. He fired a few more successive shots, downing his father there on the floor of the warehouse. He was about to shoot him in the neck to finish the job, when from the left a bullet struck Graydon in his chest and caused him to swerve, his gun firing but grazing Victor's neck instead of blowing out the jugular. Three more bullets were fired and the henchmen were downed. Todd came out from his cover of shadow, gun in hand. He shot Graydon and his men down.

The next moments felt like a blur. Todd started some preliminary healing while they were there on the warehouse floor, but as they started to hear sirens they knew they had to move him. Victor was unconscious, Lydia was in a frenzy and totally useless, so Todd had to loop his arms under the hefty mutant's shoulders , dragging him all the way out to the car and pulled him onto the back seat. Good thing he had black seats, it'll be less noticeable and he could put off cleaning for awhile. Lydia climbed into the back and put Victor's head in her lap wiping her tears and leaving trails of blood across her face, her fingers red with his blood. Todd drove like a maniac, just barely missing the swarm of police cars and ambulances that sped in the direction of the warehouse.

She pushed all the things off the coffee table and she grabbed some sheets while Todd dragged the bleeding feral up the stairs, Lydia using the sheets to cover the couch and put them within reach if they needed to make some tourniquets. When Todd showed up in her doorway she ran and grabbed Victor's legs, setting him down on the couch. She sat again, putting his head in her lap and running her fingers through his hair as she bit her lip to keep herself from crying hysterically. She was still sobbing mind you, but it was the quiet type as she looked to her friend Todd. He closed and locked the door behind them, sitting on her coffee table and putting his hands on Victor's arm and neck to pick up where he left off.

They remained in this limbo for a long time. There was a time that Todd debating giving up. Victor's wounds were healing too slowly, he'd lost a lot of blood, and most importantly he wasn't waking up. But he didn't stop, using Lydia as his guide. Her facial cues were what would tell him to keep going or to stop, and she never looked like she was going to give up. Todd would just nod his head at her, putting all his energy into healing the feral mutant and it wasn't until sunrise that he'd seen a change in the mutant. The carbonadium bullets were popping out of his healed skin, and within another ten or so minutes the color started coming back to his face. Another ten minutes, and his chest started to heave and he started coughing up chunks of old, clotted blood. Another five, and his eyes finally opened again.

The first thing he saw was her, hovering over him with her eyes blurred, sore and red from her crying. But she looked both shocked and happy, moreso shocked than anything else. It took another few for him to finally stir, groggily pushing himself up to sit and even then he was still a bit wobbly and Lydia had to spot him. Todd removed his hands from the feral then, grinning at Lydia and then he made up a bucket of bleach and soap and a sponge. He was going to go clean up their trail, but more importantly he was doing it to give them space. He knew he would've wanted the same thing if he was in that situation, so she didn't even need to tell Todd to go. He understood, and thus within a few moments Lydia and Victor were the only two left in the small apartment in the safety of the city.

There was a certain silence, Lydia speechless as her wide eyes looked to the feral as if he was a ghost or even better-a zombie. He rubbed his eyes and his face, then looked to the bullet wound sites he knew he'd received, and once he saw their healing progress his eyes finally looked up to her distressed ones. It was then that even through the horror they'd just been through he managed to cock a toothy grin at her.

"Hey kid," he said, sounding a little tired and groggy. But he received no answer from her. Not even any kind of reaction, no smile no frown no anything. Her eyes just remained wide and staring, like she was in some state of shock. It even looked like she wasn't breathing, her chest movements so subtle. He wouldn't talk anymore, not knowing what her problem was and he didn't want to push her. She would snap out of it when she wanted to, and him trying to force her out of it wasn't going to do anyone good. So he just sat there, just maintaining eye contact with her. The silence remained for awhile, while Todd just scrubbed away at the stairs outside.

Just when he thought she was going to speak, she faked him out. However, she did move. She resituated herself on the couch and totally faced him now, hands in her lap however one started to reach forward to try and tentatively touch him. She looked scared at first, as if she was setting herself up for disappointment and that her hand would pass through his intangibility. She still didn't believe he was real. But when her hand touched the stubble on his chin she practically shook. The reality and his tangibility had left her awestruck, and when her mind finally completely registered that he wasn't dead she gasped and lunged forward clinging to him for dear life. She buried her head in his neck as she sobbed, fingers practically digging into his skin. In turn, his face buried into her hair and he breathed in her scent as if he thought he wasn't going to get the chance ever again, his brush with death becoming oddly real to him.

They remained like this for a few moments, locked in this position until she finally started to pull back and give him some space. However, her hand did not leave his cheek as her aching red eyes focused on him and she almost formed a stern type of look at him.

"Victor Creed don't you ever do that again, you hear me? What you pulled took me back...took me back and while you were in my lap I saw my father...so, don't do this again. Got it?"

"Got it."

"Good."


End file.
